Sundsvall District Court in Sweden handed down an unusual verdict in 2013, one that started with nothing more than a stubborn toothache.
An unidentified inmate, serving time at a local prison, began complaining to staff about severe tooth pain. According to reports, prison officials failed to get him proper dental care for four straight days despite his repeated requests.
Rather than continue waiting, the inmate decided to solve the problem himself. He broke out of prison, made his way to a dentist’s office, and had the offending tooth pulled. Once the procedure was finished, he didn’t run. He turned himself back in and returned to his cell.
“He said he just couldn’t stand it any longer,” the district court explained in its ruling, describing the man’s reasoning for the escape.
Despite breaking the law to leave custody, the court took a notably lenient view of the situation. Judges accepted that the man’s motivation, unbearable, untreated dental pain, was a legitimate mitigating factor, given prison staff’s failure to address his complaints for days. Rather than facing serious additional punishment, his sentence was extended by only one single day.
The case became a minor sensation in Sweden and abroad, less for the escape itself and more for how narrowly self-contained it was. The inmate didn’t attempt to flee the country, evade capture, or use the opportunity to disappear. He left to solve one specific physical problem, and returned the moment it was solved.